15 Free Hand Lettering Fonts

We all love the look of gorgeous hand lettering, but not all of us are skilled in that category (or, like me, you lack the patience and desire). These 15 free Hand Lettering Fonts are here to the rescue. From printed to cursive, there are a few hand lettering fonts in this bunch that you'll love (I mean, one has hearts over the i letter, which equals cuteness overload!). See all 15 of these hand lettering fonts below.

Not only do I have all of the links for you to grab all of these goodies, I'm also sharing some of my favorite tips for pairing fonts together (especially these hand lettered ones). See all 15 of these hand lettering fonts and check out my tips below.

Hand Lettering Fonts

I absolutely LOVE fonts, but it's definitely been a hot minute since I've put together a new collection of them. And these beautiful handwritten fonts are definitely some of my favorites right now. With their gorgeous glyphs, swirling swashes, and lovely ligatures, even the most discerning font collector will be impressed by a few of these fonts. From a brush font or two to several serif fonts, I put together a list of 15 totally free (for personal use) fonts that incorporated all of the hand lettering traits that are so popular right now. 

Again, these are for personal use. If you do want to use them in a commercial manner, most of the font designers do provide options to purchase licenses and commercial use versions. When you do take advantage of that, you'll often get the premium font version, which often has extra bonus features within it and even more punctuation options.

Hand Lettered Font Pairing Ideas

While all of these hand lettered fonts look lovely on their own, most are even better together (aren't we all better together, y'all?). Below, I've included some hand lettered font pairing ideas for you to put into practice on your own creations. The best piece of font advice I can give? Have fun with these fonts! But, there are a few rules of thumb for font pairing and usage to make them look STUNNING:

• Try to avoid pairing two script fonts (especially these hand lettered ones) together. They're quite ornate in nature and would compete with one another. It would also be a little tough on the eyes. 
• Pair a thicker, heavier weighted-font with a skinny font. This is always my best trick!
• Pair a script font with a print font (combine this with the thicker/skinny idea and you've got a great thing going on).
• A nice brush script always goes well with a more print-version of a modern font. Again, use a wider brush script and skinnier modern font. 
• Use a modern calligraphy font with a classic serif.
• I also like to do all uppercases with one font and pair it with a script font in all lowercases.
• When I do the above pairing, I often do the script font on "top", allowing it to kind of sit on the all-caps font. The all-caps font acts as the perfect "base". You can see how I did that in the first font combination illustrated below (although the second combination is exactly the opposite, but still works).
• I also used this method in the last example below, however, I sandwiched the caps font in the middle of the same script on two different words.
• While this has nothing to do with font pairing, one thing I have to mention: please don't ever use ALL-CAPS with a cursive or script font (especially hand lettered ones). It's just really unfortunate to look at and makes my eyes hurt (both literally and figuratively, y'all).

Hand Lettered Font Combinations to Try:

The above combinations are the following hand written fonts (which are listed later in the post for downloading):

• Lollipop Dreams: Winter Creative Font
• BAKERY AND CONFECTIONERY: The Comic Struves Font 
• I LOVE YOU: The Comic Struves Font
• so very much: Meghatone Signature Font
• the blanket stitch: Winterfun Font
• BOUTIQUE: Good Mood Font
• fabric | notions | patterns: Winterfun Font

 

Below are some seriously lovely hand lettering fonts (all free. Some of these are truly their own art form, with gorgeous strokes, ligatures, and unique design. Here are some great design projects to use them in:

• sign-making
• Many of these pretties would be fun used on signs using vinyl machines (Cricuts or Silhouette machines)
• printables, posters, and signage
• All of these beautiful hand lettered fonts are perfect for your next creative project. Be sure to use some of the font pairing ideas I shared above.
• banners
• Print one or two large letters per letter-sized paper. Cut and string into a banner. Just a hint: I have found that capital letters often work best for banners.
• stationery
• I love a simple name at the top of stationery and one of these fonts is the perfect way to do that in such a pretty manner.
• wedding invitation design
• Goodness, think of how lovely wedding invites would be with some of the curlier typeface options in this list. There are quite a few font variations that would work out well for invites.
• greeting cards
• I love making my own simple greeting cards with just a pretty or elegant font (like the ones listed below). Simply type "thank you" or "hello" in a word-processing program to create your own card.
• labels
• Up your organization game by printing labels using these fancier fonts.
• logos
• Look into commercial licensing to utilize these fonts in your logo.
• craft projects
• A number of these would make a great font for crafting, especially using a vinyl machine (a Cricut or Silhouette). The thicker width, non-brush fonts are best for this use. 

Installing Your Free Hand Lettering Fonts

I'm actually a Mac user (since since the 90s...I sadly know absolutely nothing of how a PC works, y'all). But, there is a font installation guide for PC users here on Wikihow that can definitely do the trick.

To install these free fonts on your Mac (since this is what I use, I can speak to it the best), follow my tutorial below:

Installing Fonts on a Mac:

• After you've download your new hand lettering font file, open up your download folder (or wherever you've downloaded your font to).
• Now, inside that folder, open the folder of the font (there may not be one, it may just be the actual file, in which case, you won't have to open an additional folder).
• Double click the .ttf or .otf file (I prefer .otf. or Open Type Format files if they're available, they can be resized and manipulated without compromising quality. But, they're not always available).

• Once you've double clicked the .ttf or .otf file, the above pictured dialog box should automatically pop up.
• Click 'Install Font' (as pictured above) and your installation should automatically begin (it takes just a few seconds, total). 
• Check your computer's Font Book to make sure it's there and you can start using your new font immediately.

Using Your Hand Lettering Fonts

• I selected really clean fonts for this selection (meaning no rough edges or brush marks). This makes each font suitable for using with most vinyl machines (although some of them may be a bit more intricate to weed).
• If you would prefer a more grunge or watercolor type of hand lettering font, be sure to check out my Free Handwritten Brush Fonts. They're a bit "rougher" and have that unique quality.
• Again, be sure to check out each font designer's Terms of Use on the download page to make sure you're using the font correctly. Whether it's for personal projects, non-profit, or commercial use, most designers will outline what is okay, (as well as what is not!).   

15 Free Hand Lettering Fonts

Just click on the image or name underneath each font name listed out below to be taken to the download site. Happy fonting, my friends!

Landy Notes Font (pictured above)

 Meghatone Signature Font (pictured above)

 Winkle Font (pictured above)

 Winter Creative Font (pictured above)

 The Comic Struves Font (pictured above)

 Mango Salsa Font (pictured above)

 Sweet Purple Font (pictured above)

Homework Font (pictured above)

 Sugar Caramel Font (pictured above)

 Good Mood Font (pictured above)

Bright Cheerful Font (pictured above)

Heart Warming Font (pictured above)

Cosmos Logic Font (pictured above)

Amanise Font (pictured above)

Winterfun Font (pictured above)

Hand Lettered Font Pairing Ideas

While all of the above free hand letterig fonts look lovely on their own, most are even better together (aren't we all better together, y'all?). Below, I've included some hand lettered font pairing ideas for you to put into practice on your own creations. The best piece of font advice I can give? Have fun with these fonts! But, there are a few rules of thumb for font pairing and usage to make them look STUNNING:

• Try to avoid pairing two script fonts (especially these hand lettered ones) together. They're quite ornate in nature and would compete with one another. It would also be a little tough on the eyes. 
• Pair a thicker, heavier weighted-font with a skinny font. This is always my best trick!
• Pair a script font with a print font (combine this with the thicker/skinny idea and you've got a great thing going on).
• I also like to do all caps with one font and pair it with a script font in all lowercase.
• When I do the above pairing, I often do the script font on "top", allowing it to kind of sit on the all-caps font. The all-caps font acts as the perfect "base". You can see how I did that in the first font combination illustrated below (although the second combination is exactly the opposite, but still works).
• I also used this method in the last example below, however, I sandwiched the caps font in the middle of the same script on two different words.
• While this has nothing to do with font pairing, one thing I have to mention: please don't ever use ALL-CAPS with a cursive or script font (especially hand lettered ones). It's just really unfortunate to look at and makes my eyes hurt (both literally and figuratively, y'all).

Hand Lettered Font Combinations to Try:

The above combinations are the following hand lettering fonts:

• Lollipop Dreams: Winter Creative Font
• BAKERY AND CONFECTIONERY: The Comic Struves Font 
• I LOVE YOU: The Comic Struves Font
• so very much: Meghatone Signature Font
• the blanket stitch: Winterfun Font
• BOUTIQUE: Good Mood Font
• fabric | notions | patterns: Winterfun Font

More Free Fonts

• This collection of free Vintage Romantic Fonts are my number one group of fonts.
• These 25 Free Happy Birthday Fonts are perfect for your next celebration!
• My free Marker-Style Fonts are always a fun group.
• And who doesn't enjoy a good-looking slim font? This skinny font round up is sure to make you smile!
• Love a fun chalk-style font? My 25+ Free Chalk Fonts post is always a big reader favorite.
• Glitter and Graze has a great list of Fonts for Your Cricut.
• These 20 Free Handwriting Fonts from Kevin and Amanda are all super unique. Amanda is a fabulous font curator with an extensive collection.
• And these fun Free Hipster Fonts from Sheer Ever After are super cool.